Reflection for Saturday December 23, Third Week of Advent; Luke 1:57-66

Gospel: Luke 1:57-66

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, "No. He will be called John." But they answered her, "There is no one among your relatives who has this name." So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name," and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, "What, then, will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him."

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Reflection:

Do you always follow the will of the Lord? No you do not that is why you have problems every now and then that you create for yourself. For example, in the covenant of the Sacrament of Marriage: To have and to hold for richer or for poorer in sickness and in health till death do us part.

But sad to say this is not followed by couples who wed in the church. We create problems for ourselves that is actually avoidable but we don’t avoid. This is the reason why we suffer because of our lack of fidelity to the marriage vows. There’s a whole lot more problems that we create for ourselves for the simple reason that we’re not faithful to what God wants us to do.

In the gospel for today, the couple (Elizabeth and Zechariah) is faithful to what God wants them to do: That is to name their newly born son John (Luke 1:13). Many were suggesting that they name the newly born child after his father Zechariah.  But Elizabeth told them to name him John, they asked Zechariah and he also wrote the name John and immediately after that he was freed from the curse of not being able to speak.

It always pays to be faithful to God for there’s always a reward. And it always pays to be faithful to the Sacrament of Matrimony for you will have peace of mind and you will not be at the beck and call of the devil who’s end in mind is to destroy you. – Marino J. Dasmarinas